The Founding 100
The first hundred records inscribed in the archive.
records written
Ancient era
Jesus of Nazareth
7 BCE – April 7, 1930 CE
Central figure of Christianity, revered by billions across two millennia
Medieval era
Prophet Muhammad (PBUH)
c. 570 CE – 8 June 632 CE
Final Prophet of Islam whose message united Arabia and today guides two billion people
Ancient era
Gautama Buddha
563 BCE – 483 BCE
Founder of Buddhism whose teachings on suffering and liberation endure worldwide
Ancient era
Moses
1393 BCE – 1273 BCE
Prophet and lawgiver of the Abrahamic faiths who led the Exodus
Ancient era
Confucius
552 BCE – 479 BCE
Chinese philosopher whose ethics shaped East Asian civilization for 2,500 years
Medieval era
Umar ibn al-Khattab
Second caliph of Islam, famed for justice and administration
Medieval era
Ali ibn Abi Talib
Fourth caliph, cousin of the Prophet (PBUH), revered for wisdom and courage
Medieval era
Rumi
September 30, 1207 – December 17, 1273
Persian poet and Sufi mystic, among the best-selling poets in the world today
Early Modern era
Martin Luther
November 10, 1483 – February 18, 1546
Reformer whose 95 Theses split Western Christianity
Contemporary era
Mother Teresa
August 26, 1910 – September 5, 1997
Missionary of Calcutta, Nobel laureate of mercy
Ancient era
Hammurabi
1810 BCE – 1750 BCE
Babylonian king whose code is among the oldest written laws
Ancient era
Ramesses II
1303 BCE – 1213 BCE
Egypt's greatest pharaoh, builder of Abu Simbel
Ancient era
Socrates
470 BCE – 399 BCE
Athenian philosopher whose questioning method founded Western ethics
Ancient era
Plato
427 BCE – 347 BCE
Athenian philosopher, founder of the Academy and author of the Republic
Ancient era
Aristotle
384 BCE – 322 BCE
Greek philosopher and polymath, tutor of Alexander, father of formal logic
Ancient era
Pythagoras
c. 550 BCE – c. 490 BCE
Greek mathematician and mystic of number and harmony
Ancient era
Hippocrates
460 BCE – 370 BCE
Greek physician called the father of medicine
Ancient era
Archimedes
287 BCE – 212 BCE
Greatest mathematician of antiquity, pioneer of mechanics and hydrostatics
Ancient era
Hypatia
360 CE – 415 CE
Alexandrian mathematician and philosopher, martyr of ancient learning
Ancient era
Alexander the Great
356 BCE – 323 BCE
Macedonian king who built an empire from Greece to India by age 30
Ancient era
Julius Caesar
100 BCE – 44 BCE
Roman general and statesman whose rise ended the Republic
Ancient era
Cleopatra
69 BCE – 30 BCE
Last pharaoh of Egypt, diplomat and strategist of the ancient world
Ancient era
Qin Shi Huang
259 BCE – 210 BCE
First Emperor of unified China, builder of the Great Wall's foundation
Ancient era
Ashoka
304 BCE – 232 BCE
Mauryan emperor who renounced conquest and spread Buddhist values
Medieval era
Charlemagne
April 2, 748 CE – January 28, 814 CE
King of the Franks crowned first Holy Roman Emperor, father of Europe
Medieval era
Saladin
1138 – March 4, 1193
Sultan who united the Muslim world and retook Jerusalem with famed chivalry
Medieval era
Genghis Khan
May 31, 1162 – August 25, 1227
Founder of the Mongol Empire, the largest contiguous empire in history
Medieval era
Joan of Arc
1412 – May 30, 1431
Peasant girl who led French armies and became a saint and national symbol
Early Modern era
Elizabeth I
September 7, 1533 – March 24, 1603
Queen whose reign made England a global power and cultural beacon
Early Modern era
Catherine the Great
April 21, 1729 – November 17, 1796
Empress who modernized and expanded the Russian Empire
Modern era
George Washington
February 22, 1732 – December 14, 1799
Commander of the American Revolution and first President of the United States
Modern era
Napoleon Bonaparte
August 15, 1769 – May 5, 1821
French emperor and general whose campaigns redrew the map of Europe
Modern era
Abraham Lincoln
February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865
US President who preserved the Union and ended slavery in America
Modern era
Winston Churchill
November 30, 1874 – January 24, 1965
British Prime Minister who led the defiance of Nazi Germany
Modern era
Mahatma Gandhi
October 2, 1869 – January 30, 1948
Leader of India's independence movement through nonviolent resistance
Contemporary era
Nelson Mandela
July 18, 1918 – December 5, 2013
Anti-apartheid revolutionary who became South Africa's first Black president
Contemporary era
Martin Luther King Jr.
January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968
Baptist minister who led the American civil rights movement
Contemporary era
Rosa Parks
February 4, 1913 – October 24, 2005
Seamstress whose refusal to move ignited the Montgomery bus boycott
Early Modern era
Leonardo da Vinci
April 15, 1452 – May 2, 1519
Renaissance polymath — painter of the Mona Lisa, engineer, and anatomist
Early Modern era
Galileo Galilei
February 15, 1564 – January 8, 1642
Astronomer and physicist, father of observational science
Early Modern era
Isaac Newton
December 25, 1642 – March 31, 1727
Physicist and mathematician who formulated the laws of motion and universal gravitation
Modern era
Charles Darwin
February 12, 1809 – April 19, 1882
Naturalist whose theory of evolution by natural selection transformed biology
Modern era
Louis Pasteur
December 27, 1822 – September 28, 1895
Chemist whose germ theory and vaccines saved uncounted lives
Modern era
Thomas Edison
February 11, 1847 – October 18, 1931
Prolific American inventor of the phonograph and practical electric light
Modern era
Nikola Tesla
July 10, 1856 – January 7, 1943
Inventor and electrical engineer who pioneered alternating current
Modern era
Marie Curie
November 7, 1867 – July 4, 1934
Physicist and chemist, first person to win Nobel Prizes in two sciences
Modern era
Albert Einstein
March 14, 1879 – April 18, 1955
Theoretical physicist who reshaped our understanding of space, time, and energy
Modern era
Alexander Fleming
August 6, 1881 – March 11, 1955
Discoverer of penicillin, the first true antibiotic
Modern era
Alan Turing
June 23, 1912 – June 7, 1954
Mathematician who founded computer science and broke Enigma
Modern era
Ada Lovelace
December 10, 1815 – November 27, 1852
Mathematician who wrote the first computer program a century early
Contemporary era
Rosalind Franklin
July 25, 1920 – April 16, 1958
Chemist whose X-ray images revealed the structure of DNA
Contemporary era
Katherine Johnson
August 26, 1918 – February 24, 2020
NASA mathematician whose orbital calculations carried astronauts home
Contemporary era
Stephen Hawking
January 8, 1942 – March 14, 2018
Cosmologist who mapped black holes from a wheelchair
Early Modern era
Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz
June 21, 1646 – November 14, 1716
Co-inventor of calculus and pioneer of computation
Medieval era
Al-Khwarizmi
c. 750 CE – 846 CE
Mathematician of Baghdad who gave the world algebra and algorithms
Medieval era
Ibn Sina (Avicenna)
980 CE – June 18, 1037
Persian polymath whose Canon of Medicine taught Europe for 600 years
Modern era
Sigmund Freud
May 6, 1856 – September 23, 1939
Founder of psychoanalysis and cartographer of the unconscious
Medieval era
Johannes Gutenberg
1400 – February 3, 1468
Inventor of movable-type printing, the engine of the modern mind
Modern era
Orville Wright
Co-inventor of powered flight with his brother Wilbur
Ancient era
Homer
c. 900 BCE – c. 800 BCE
Ancient Greek poet credited with the Iliad and the Odyssey